SYLOSIS

This was a tough one to swallow whole, considering the promise showed on SYLOSIS' debut album "Conclusion of an Age" and the accompanying praised afforded it. Like many others, I had high expectations for the sophomore release and while "Edge of the Earth" shows moments of pure brilliance there are more moments during its far-too-long running time that can't quite match the impressive musical might with distinct hooks.

There is still a significant upside here, as "Edge of the Earth" at times exudes the epic modern thrash energy of an album like MACHINE HEAD's "The Blackening". That's no exaggeration and "Edge of the Earth" is nothing if not terrifyingly aggressive, more so than "Conclusion of an Age" in fact. The album gets off to a great start with a thrashing seven-minute beast called "Procession" that takes the best of the new school and combines it with classic Bay Area punch, ending up as one of the few songs that stands out from the pack. The momentum is kept with "Sands of Time" and another skillfully constructed one titled "Empyrean". Before long though the realization hits that to a certain extent songs begin to blend into one another; sometimes it's more the vibe than the delivery, but the end result is the same. For all the ferocious, shred-level thrashing and the sparkling guitar melodies there just aren't enough songs with a hook that sinks below the surface level of the flesh. It doesn't help that the album races past the 70-minute mark, which starts to become a problem by the time 11th track, "Altered States of Conscious", arrives at which point I had had enough, but soldiered on anyway. That's what kept happening every time I went back to try the whole thing again; I kept hoping that the fourth, or the fifth, or the sixth spin would be the one during which everything clicked, but it never happened. Sonically speaking, it is massive and unrelenting; it is the brief duration of the aftereffects that are the problem.

There is no issue with main man Josh Middleton assuming lead vocal duties either; his approach is suitably savage and often insanely intense. His cleans, which are used sparingly, aren't bad either, although the melodic portions of "Awakening", which approach something along the lines of current era KILLSWITCH ENGAGE or maybe ALL THAT REMAINS, don't leave much of an impression. The larger issue is not so much the vocals as patterns that too often end up nondescript.

Having to make this assessment is a bit of bummer since I wanted (and still want) to like this album a great deal more than has ended up being the case. "Edge of the Earth" is a textbook example of all the impressive musicality (and there is a lot of here) in the world unable to overcome the lack of memorable songs. By any other standards, "Edge of the Earth" is a pretty good album and offers more than enough ordnance to leave at least a few sizeable brain craters. Unfortunately, the one standard that SYLOSIS hasn't met is the most important one: their own.